Jesus gives us several hard sayings in today’s gospel that make it sound pretty tough to be a disciple. “Hate your father and mother…take up your cross…renounce all your possessions.” In the middle of these sayings he gives us two parables. If you build a tower, you need to make sure you have enough resources. If you go into battle you need to know if you have the strength. Jesus asks us today if we have what it takes to be a disciple.

The truth is that it’s not easy to be a disciple of Jesus. We like to think that everyone goes to heaven and that we can kind of just go with the flow and be alright. Jesus has something else in mind. Every athlete knows that if you want to win that you’ve got to work hard. There are no trophies given out just for showing up. Shouldn’t we expect that the prize of eternal salvation would require at least the amount of effort we put into an athletic competition?

The good news is that we don’t do this all by ourselves. We do have the resources to finish; we do have the strength to fight because Jesus fights with us. Let us resolve to do our part and not treat our faith as cheap. Let us fight hard to win the heavenly crown. It’s worth the cost.